As far as I can see using the Search facility neither of the tunes here has featured in the SAW Group - but I did miss spotting Foggy Dew when Ginny and I were posting it the other day, so apologies if they are already out there! The Last March is a lovely composition by the late John Morris Rankin of Cape Breton, a brilliant fiddle player and member of the world-famous Rankin Family of traditional musicians. Prince Charlie's Quickstep is a traditional Scottish tune and dance, the dance being danced as a Strathspey I believe. I just thought that the two tunes went well together, both having a Strathspey feel to them, though one nominally a march and the other a quickstep. The key changes from A in the first to D in the second to add a bit of variety. I alternated octave and mandolin and added a simple guitar backing. The pictures were taken this morning along the River Echaig just before the mist started clearing away.
Wonderful tunes and great arrangement and playing.
I second Pierpaolo, and in addition, you're getting great sounds on the two instruments. Lovely stuff, John.
Thanks, both of you. I used a stereo mic set-up for this recording, something I have not done for a while. For all three instruments I positioned one mic to the right about 18 inches away and pointing at the body of the instrument and the other to the left, about the same distance and aimed towards the neck/soundboard join, and set the REAPER channel to stereo rather than recording on two separate tracks. I liked the result. The mandolin had new strings too!
Two finely played spritely tunes there John. Summer is not far off. It sometimes works to use the two links below to find out if a tune has already been posted (this method works sometimes). https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/g...413&do=discuss https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/g...856&do=discuss
Lovely tunes and playing John!
Very nice music and video. The first tune also has a Scottish feel with those sixteenth notes followed by a dotted eighth note, so they go together well. Fine mandolin playing as always, John.
Thanks, Simon, Jill and Christian. Simon, I had a trawl through both the Official and the Other tune lists, but can still manage to miss a title at times. It is amazing how many tunes are in those 2 lists. Christian, you are right about the Scottish feel to The Last March. The musical connection between Nova Scotia/Cape Breton and ourselves here in Scotland is very strong. As far back as 1773 around 200 Scottish settlers landed in the town of Pictou in Nova Scotia, and since then there has been regular large-scale emigration, in the 1880s then after the First World War. The bond between the two nations has always been deep and the shared musical heritage is probably one of the strongest links.
Great playing and beautiful sound of the recording, John. And obviously you had a really nice hike in the morning.
Two great tunes, John. I did notice something different in the recording and now I know what it was. I thought my headphones (or my ears) were acting up. Yes, The Rankin Family, from Nova Scotia were top notch musicians, annual Christmas concerts on TV etc - two of the main singers have died and the family has headed out by themselves or in pairs but not to the same degree of success. The younger generation are doing some good work now.
Great playing and photography as usual, John! It's also interesting to read about your microphone arrangement. It has certainly created a full and complex sound.
